“I was just tired of everything last year and I knew going to [World] Superbike was more or less the same pressure I had in MotoGP,” Petrucci explained, during an exclusive interview with Crash.net
“For this reason, I tried the Dakar, just as an experience and to see if I’m able to do it.”
“They sent the location, into a WhatsApp group, which was about 120 kilometres from our hotel in the middle of the desert out of Dubai, at 6:30am.
Yet, by the end of the event, he had proven he could compete with the world’s fastest rally riders.Questo è il mio punto di vista riguardo l’incidente occorso domenica in gara2. pic.twitter.com/hU56o91Fu2 Danillo Petrucci, Moto America, Grand Prix of the Americas, 7 April
2023? ‘I don’t want to leave Ducati again’
After rising from Pramac to the factory Ducati MotoGP team over six seasons in MotoGP, Petrucci lost his seat and switched to KTM for what proved a disappointing final premier-class campaign in 2021.
So what’s next for Petrucci?
His priority is to remain with Ducati, which in turn rules out a return to the Dakar for 2023.
“I don’t want to leave Ducati again and Ducati at the moment doesn’t have a Dakar bike!” he said.
There have been rumours of a move to WorldSBK, where former MotoGP rider Alvaro Bautista is currently leading the title chase for Ducati.
But that would mean a U-turn on his previous desire to escape the pressure of world championship competition and, while an end-of-season wild-card seems possible, Petrucci then looks to be leaning towards spending a second year in MotoAmerica.
“We’ll see, I need to understand what makes me happy,” Petrucci said.
And he’s also not ruling out another big surprise at some stage.
“I would like to try and win the 200 miles of Daytona, or 24 hours of Le Mans, maybe in the future I will try some of these great races!” he said.
